


You've been talking in your sleep

by everafter_in_neverland, Insane1001



Category: World Wrestling Entertainment
Genre: Domestic Fluff, Fluff, M/M, slight descriptions of blood
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-02
Updated: 2019-01-02
Packaged: 2019-10-02 21:43:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,871
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17271659
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/everafter_in_neverland/pseuds/everafter_in_neverland, https://archiveofourown.org/users/Insane1001/pseuds/Insane1001
Summary: Dean is a sleep talker.





	You've been talking in your sleep

**Author's Note:**

> @everafter-in-neverland was a huge help with this, pretty much molded it into what it is today.

The first time it happened was after they’d finally gotten home from a stint overseas. Roman and Dean had stumbled into their house and dropped their bags in the front hall, barely making it to the bedroom before they’d collapsed. Dean passed out the second his head hit the pillow after having barely slept the last three nights but Roman took a few extra moments to pull his boy close. Giving Dean a gentle kiss on the forehead, Roman tucked his face into unruly curls as he closed his eyes, drifting off to sleep within minutes.

It had felt like he’d only just closed his eyes when he’d woken to fingers tapping against his cheek. Roman had jerked slightly and turned to look at Dean with bleary eyes, exhaustion muddling his brain and dragging his lids down like they were made of lead. He had been about to ask Dean what was going on when his boyfriend turned his gaze to the door of their room. “He’s here.”

Roman had whipped around, almost toppling out of their bed as he tried to get eyes on what Dean was seeing. There was nothing there however, just a dark hallway. He turned back to Dean only to find him snoring softly into his pillow like nothing had happened. With one last glance at the doorway Roman tried to settle back into bed, willing his heart to stop racing and wiping sweaty palms on the sheets as his thoughts spun out. He only lasted a few minutes before he couldn’t take it any longer, ripping the covers off and climbing out of bed to go check the house.

There was no one there but them.

It was only a few weeks later when Roman woke to a hand gripping his shoulder tightly and shaking him. He let out a quiet groan and pulled his shoulder out of the grip as he rolled over to go back to sleep, in no way ready to get up yet. He was just about to fall asleep again when it returned, shaking him even more insistently. Rubbing his eyes, Roman rolled onto his back and groggily asked, “what,” only for a second hand to immediately cover his mouth. He could feel the body next to him shifting closer and a warm weight settled against his side as a familiar voice spoke in his ear.

“Do you see it?” Dean asked, voice low as he lifted his hand from Roman’s shoulder to point at the wall. “The blood, do you see it?”

Tensing up at the mention of blood, Roman pried Dean’s hand off his mouth before looking at the wall. It was the same dull beige every hotel seemed to paint their rooms, not a speck of blood in sight, and Roman felt himself relax just a fraction. Squinting, he studied the wall further just in case there was something he was missing. “What blood, Babe? Are you okay?”

When no reply came, Roman frowned, turning to look at Dean only to find him staring blankly at the wall. Lifting a hand, Roman waved it in front of Dean’s face and let out a sigh as he realized the boy wasn’t actually awake. Pulling Dean against his chest, Roman took a second to check his boy over for any injuries just in case something had prompted this, but unsurprisingly found nothing. Looking back at Dean’s face, Roman found the boy’s eyes once again closed and allowed himself to do the same, letting the steady rhythm of Dean’s breathing lull him back to sleep.

Roman didn’t know what was causing these episodes, if anything even was, but he couldn’t count the number of times he’d woken up in the dead of night to Dean’s disturbing comments at this point. He’d resigned himself to it simply being something he’d have to get used to if he continued to date Dean when things had taken an unexpected turn.

Roman wasn’t sure what had woken him that night, everything seemingly calm as he turned his head to squint at the clock which flashed some ungodly hour back at him in blinding red. Turning to check on Dean beside him, he found the boy looking at him with glassy baby blues from where his face was pressed into a pillow. Upon noticing Roman’s gaze, he suddenly lifted himself up to place a gentle kiss on Roman’s lips before mumbling, “have a good day at work, Ro.”

Brows furrowing, Roman threw a confused glance at Dean before he suddenly found himself being pushed from the bed and hitting the floor with a yelp. Roman slowly made to get up and groaned as pain throbbed through his hip and shoulder where he’d landed hardest and settled onto his back instead. Dropping his head onto the floor, Roman let his eyes close and decided he was going to need a moment or two before he tried that again.

The room had fallen silent by the time Roman finally pushed himself up into a seated position. He looked over to find Dean wrapped up in the blankets like a burrito, once again snoring softly as though he hadn’t just literally kicked Roman out of bed. Groaning, Roman flopped onto his back on the floor and stared up at the ceiling.

He really wished there was something he could do about these episodes.

Things seemed to get better as more time passed. Dean still woke him up at least once a week with a glazed look in his eyes and nonsensical words dripping from his lips, but Roman was taking it in stride. In fact, just the other night Roman had woken up only hours after having fallen asleep to Dean rolling over and draping himself across his chest. His eyes had briefly flickered open as he mumbled, “make sure Bigfoot gets his fries,” before they’d fallen closed again, once more dead to the world, and Roman couldn’t help the smile that had broken out across his face. Curling an arm around Dean’s slim waist, Roman had chuckled quietly as he tucked his face into sleep mussed curls.

Roman seemed to be the only one who knew about Dean’s proclivity for eccentric midnight rambles. There was a possibility Seth knew, a couple of occasions where Dean’s episodes had overlapped with nights where all three of them had shared a room, but Seth had never brought it up and Roman was in no rush to do so himself. There was no doubt in his mind, however, that anyone outside of the three of them knew about it. It had been years since Dean had roomed with anyone but his fellow Shield brothers, even after they’d split up due to Seth’s supposed betrayal, and Roman couldn’t recall Dean ever having these episodes back when they’d first formed a group. Dean had actually never brought them up himself either, seemingly oblivious to the strange going ons during the night, and so it seemed safe to assume they were a relatively new development and Roman was the only one who actually had any knowledge of them.

Or at least, he used to be the only one who knew about them.

Roman had been sitting backstage waiting for his match at the end of the night when Dean had suddenly dropped onto the bench beside him with a groan. The man had started angrily tearing at the tape on his hands, leg bouncing up and down as frustration seemed to practically pour off him. Gently pressing his elbow into Dean’s side, Roman drew dull blue eyes up to his face where he could see the dark bags settled underneath them.

“You okay?”

Nodding jerkily, Dean dropped his gaze back to his hands as he finally tore off the last of the tape. “Haven’t been sleeping is all.”

“Yeah, I know, Baby Boy,” Roman replied, wrapping an arm around Dean’s shoulders to pull him into his side. Dean had instinctively tensed up at the touch, eyes darting about the empty locker room before he all but melted into Roman. Pressing a kiss to Dean’s head, Roman had started gently carding his fingers through Dean’s hair as the exhaustion of the last few weeks caught up to his boy and dragged him down into sleep.

The locker room had filled significantly in the hour since Dean had drifted off, but the boy had yet to awaken. Roman had shifted in that time however, settling back against the wall to allow Dean to more comfortably lie across his chest. One hand was still buried in Dean’s curls, thumb gently stroking over the curve of his skull as Roman stared down at the phone in his other hand. 

Roman was slowly thumbing through the latest social media nightmare and he couldn’t refrain from the occasional eye roll and scoff at what he found, gently sweeping his hand through Dean’s hair as the boy seemed to stir a little. One hand shifted around Roman’s chest to curl into the back of his shirt as a warm nose tucked in under his jaw and Roman couldn’t help the soft smile it brought about. It was also the only warning he got before a sleep rough voice suddenly mumbled out, “you’re all gonna die.”

Roman hummed softly in acknowledgement, eyes never leaving his phone as he gently brushed back Dean’s bangs. The boy seemed to settle down at the touch but it wasn’t long before he spoke again. “You’re all gonna die, but I promise I won’t chew on your bones.”

Roman simply nodded in response, absentmindedly replying back, “alright, Babe.”

That seemed to be it for Dean as he went quiet after that and it took Roman a moment to realize it wasn’t just Dean that had gone silent, it was the entire locker room. Looking up, he noticed that seemingly every eye in the room was trained on Dean and him. Taking in the expressions that ranged from puzzled to full on disturbed, Roman raised a brow and watched as several men turned away at being caught staring. Some, however, didn’t let that deter them as Xavier caught his eye and jerked his chin at Dean while asking, “he alright, man?”

Xavier’s face could easily be classified on the more uncomfortable side of things despite the question and Roman gave an easy smile as he nodded in response. “Yeah, he’s all good.”

That didn’t seem to placate the man much however as he threw a glance back at Big E and Kofi before commenting again with an uneasy look. “That’s some pretty creepy stuff he’s spoutin’.”

Roman couldn’t deny that. While Dean’s episodes seemed to vary in content, they often weighed more towards fear inducing comments than anything else and he hadn’t exactly been unaffected himself when he’d first discovered the habit. Keeping that in mind, Roman tried to give his most reassuring smile. “It’s completely harmless, just sleep talking.”

“I don’t think that’s exactly normal.”

Roman shrugged slightly as he looked down at the boy resting on his chest and gently smoothed auburn bangs back off his face as a fond smile found its way onto his own. “That’s just Dean.”

And he wouldn’t change a thing.

**Author's Note:**

> I'm on tumblr @lunatic-desert-child


End file.
